At least 5 arrested in fresh East Jerusalem clashes

JERUSALEM (AFP) — At least five Palestinians were arrested during fresh clashes overnight Sunday in East Jerusalem, where hundreds of extra police have been deployed to tackle mounting unrest, authorities said.

The clashes were especially intense in the flashpoint Silwan neighborhood, an area near the Old City that was the home of Abd al-Rahman Shaludi, the Palestinian driver who ran into a Jerusalem crowd, killing an Israeli baby.

Tensions have been rising ahead of Sunday night’s funeral for Shaludi, which is due to take place around 11:00 pm near Jerusalem’s Old City walls.

Shaludi killed a three-month-old girl and wounded six others when he drove at high speed into a crowd of Israelis on Wednesday, before being shot by police as he fled on foot.

Tensions have been running high since the incident, with nightly clashes across Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, and were stoked further after the army shot dead a protesting West Bank teenager with US citizenship on Friday.